Pentagon introduces new Korean language program for servicemen

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, April 21 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. Department of Defense said Tuesday it
has introduced a new computer-based Korean language program to help tens of
thousands of American servicemen stationed in Korea obtain survival language
skills in their host country.

About 28,500 U.S. soldiers are stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the
1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice to leave the Korean Peninsula
technically at war.
"The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center has released a new
edition of the computer-based HeadStart language program in Korean," the
department said in a statement. "This 80-hour computer-based program uses
human-to-avatar interaction, games, word scrambles, and other interactive
exercises to draw the user into the learning program."
The Pentagon expressed hope that the program, incorporating 750 of the most
commonly needed phrases by troops on the ground, will help servicemembers "hit
the ground in a new country with enough survival language skills to communicate
with the locals on familiar topics."
The Korean program, as well as Chinese, Iraqi, Farsi (Iran), Dari and Pashtu
(Afghanistan), is open to the public and can be downloaded at
http://fieldsupport.lingnet.org/products/headstart/korean/index.html.
The materials are also available for download in the iPod version.
The DLIFLC, based in Monterey, California, is the largest language institute in
the world and trains an average of 3,000 military linguists each year in 24
different languages.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)